Venom received a champion rework in 2018 to coincide with the release of the Venom movie, which updated the champion’s tool kit and made him relevant in the current meta. An incredibly fun character to play, Venom relies on inflicting bleeds on the opponent, and is the go-to counter for Spider-verse champions.

Venom is not likely to be your main damage dealer or among your first maxed out 5* Champions, but where he is an option, he’s an excellent one, and he makes a fine addition to any Summoner’s roster.

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Key Information:
Like many Cosmic champions, Venom is a buff-heavy character. Venom starts the fight with a Klyntar Mutation Buff that is on a 9-second timer. Every time this buff refreshes, Venom will generate a random buff, up to a maximum of 7. These buffs are: Physical Resistance, Armor Up, Cruelty, Precision, and Fury.

Additionally, the Klyntar buff provides the following benefits: Increased Attack, 15% Bleed ability accuracy vs Heroes, All Attacks vs Spider-Verse Champions ignore passive evades, and Tech Champions can’t power burn or power drain Venom.

Of these effects, the ability to prevent Spider-Verse Champions from evading is one of Venom’s key uses in the Contest, as well as a nice nod to his comic abilities. It is extremely important to remember that this ability is dependent on the active Klyntar buff. If the Klyntar buff is nullified or removed in any way (such as by a Buffet node) then Spider-Verse Champions can evade Venom.

Additionally, Venom can inflict Armor Break on the opponent by using his Heavy Attack, and critical hits have an 80% chance to inflict a 4.5 second bleed debuff on the opponent. Finally, when the Opponent is below 18% health, Venom gains True Strike and Unblockable Specials.

Signature Ability:
Venom’s signature ability grants him additional buffs at the start of the fight, and makes his buffs more powerful. This Signature Ability falls into the “Nice to have, but not necessary to play the Champion” category. Coupled with the fact that Venom is a low prestige Champion, you should not use an awakening gem or signature stones on him.

Team Building/Key Synergies:
Venom has numerous synergies, but he is not a synergy-dependent champion. If you are looking to build a Venom-centric team, add Symbiote Supreme for 20% additional bleed duration, and Darkhawk for the “Dark Justice” synergy, which gives Venom 30% additional power gain rate vs Villains, and 10% crit rate vs heroes. After that, add Carnage, She-Hulk, Doctor Octopus or Electro for additional critical rating, or Miles Morales, Spider-Man (Classic) or Guillotine for additional attack. Venom has a self-synergy that grants all symbioties +4% attack and health.

Mastery Setup:
Venom should be played with max Deep Wounds if possible for the best damage results. Increased Fury buff duration is also helpful if you can fit it in your build.

Venom has no immunities and should not be played with suicides.

Alliance War Defense:
Venom has no stand-out defensive tools and should only be placed on defense for diversity purposes.

Special Attacks:
The SP1 is three hits with a symbiote tendril, each with a 55% chance to steal an opponent’s buff, nullifying the buff, triggering a genetic mastery buff and healing Venom. This attack is Venom’s only source of healing, and is an excellent way to keep the opponent’s abilities in check. If you are questing with Venom, you’ll want to rely on this attack whenever the opponent is gaining buffs.

The SP2 causes big damage as it converts all of Venom’s buffs (except the True Strike buff) into Fury buffs, raising attack. If you are in a situation where you are facing a bleed-immune champion, this attack should be the go-to.

The SP3 has increased attack based on the number of buffs active. It is better to use the SP2 because you’ll get Fury buffs that last longer than just the single special attack.

Pros:
Venom is the go-to Champion to counter the annoying passive evade of Spider-Verse characters.

Venom’s kit provides multiple uses in Map 7, as he is the best option for the Spider-Verse evade lanes, and is viable for Buffed Up, Diss Track, and Do You Bleed nodes.

Venom is an XL champ, making him a fantastic option in Variant 2.

Not overly relative on synergies, so if you need Venom to handle one Spider-Verse champion on a questing lane, you don’t have to bring a whole support team.

Does not need to be awakened, or even at maximum rank to be useful and access the best parts of his kit.

Cons:
No immunities.

Low prestige, and belongs to a class crowded with some truly exceptional champions, such as Captain Marvel Movie, Hyperion, and Corvus Glaive, that are useful in more areas of the game.

Should not be played against champions or nodes that can automatically nullify buffs or in situations where expiring buffs benefit the opponent, and is severely slowed in matches vs bleed-immune Champions.

No power control abilities, and true strike is only active at the end of the fight.

Pro Tips:
Venom is one of the best options for a cosmic 2015 rank-up gem.

Because Venom can generate an Armor buff, he is a viable Havok counter, but do not use the SP2 vs Havok, as it will consume your Armor buff.

Remember Venom does have Armor Break capabilities with his heavy attack if you are facing a Killmonger, Emma Frost, Mysterio, or Iron Man Infinity War.

The True Strike and Unblockable specials when the opponent reaches 18% health is a nice bonus (especially when coupled with the Assassin Mastery) but it truly shines versus an awakened Iron-Man Infinity War, as it allows you to bypass the Auto-Block that triggers when Iron-Man Infinity War reaches 15% health.

Use Venom’s SP1 versus Rage nodes or Medusa to nullify Fury buffs.

Venom’s SP1 is also a decent Mordo counter, you can nullify the Power Gain buffs, and this usually makes the AI play more aggressively.

Recommended Videos:
Seatin – 5* Venom Gameplay
RichTheMan – Why Venom is So Amazing Right Now
Lord Shaedow – How to Play Venom

-Dano357